Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal expects that the opening of a land market in the country will bring $85 billion of additional GDP in 10 years, and the average cost of land per 1 ha will increase fivefold.
“Ukraine has underutilized its land potential of $85 billion. In 29 years, free disposal of land has been limited, which means that its value has been underestimated several times. During this time, more than 5 million hectares of land have disappeared from the state. Development of irrigation and investment in agriculture has slowed down for decades, and partially stopped at all,” the prime minister said during the presentation of the Audit of the Ukrainian economy and vectors of economic development until 2030 in Kyiv on Friday.
PM: $1 trln of GDP in 10 years is unrealized potential of Ukraine.
On July 22, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed the law, which proposes to resolve the issues of establishing borders and integrated spatial planning of communities. This is evidenced by the information on the website of the parliament.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has adopted at the second reading bill No. 2280. It was supported by 320 MPs.
The bill establishes that the purpose of the land plot is determined by its owner independently, information about the type of purpose of the site chosen by the owner is entered into the State Land Cadastre. Establishing and changing the type of intended use of the land plot by its owner does not require the development of documentation on land management and decision-making by authorities, local authorities (except for defense lands).
The bill proposes settlement of community boundary issues; integrated spatial planning of community territories, while eliminating the need to develop several types of urban planning documentation and land management documentation related in content. It is also proposed rationing issues related to the approval of such documentation; rationing the formation of an electronic cartographic basis for territory planning; ensuring a real link between socio-economic development programs and spatial planning documentation; creating a mechanism for accounting for public and private interests through public discussion.
The Verkhovna Rada vote for the law on land sale is supported by 26% of Ukrainians, while 60% are against the law adoption, the results of the social survey assessing the success of the government and society’s response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic and political events in the country, conducted by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) on April 7-11.
“If a national referendum on the sale of agricultural land was held in the next week, 26% of those who are to participate in the referendum would vote in favor of the sale of land, and 74% against the sale of land,” KIIS said in a press release.
Some 32% of respondents believe that it is better now for Ukraine to cooperate with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) receiving new loans; 46% hold another opinion and said that it is now better not to cooperate with IMF and not to receive new loans.
The survey was conducted using the CATI method (computer-assisted telephone interviews) based on a random sampling of mobile phone numbers. During the survey, some 2,000 interviews were conducted in all regions of Ukraine, controlled by the government. The sample is representative for the adult population (18 years of age and older). The statistical sampling error (with a probability of 0.95 and taking into account the design effect of 1.1) does not exceed 2.2% for indicators close to 50%, 2.1% for indicators close to 25%, 1.4% for indicators close to 10%.
The Aurum Group has said that it is necessary to annul the land tax in April 2020 to support business for the period of quarantine. The group paid attention of the government that ambiguous interpretations of the provisions of the so-called “anti-crisis law” adopted on March 30, according to which, in particular, the employer can be exempted from paying a fee for the use of property, will increase the loss of business from the consequences of quarantine.
“In March, in connection with the quarantine, the business was exempted from paying land tax, but in April, when the situation became even worse, the corresponding changes were not made,” the press service of the group told Interfax-Ukraine.
“Given the specifics of the activities and location of Aurum Group enterprises, the proportion of land tax of the tax burden of some companies ranges from 15% to 70%. In addition, in some regions, the land tax rate has doubled since January 1, 2020,” the press service said.
According to the company, the law on additional social and economic guarantees in connection with the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) provides an opportunity not to pay rent in commercial relations. However, in April, business must pay for renting land and real estate tax to the state.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal believes that the possibility of selling land to foreigners or foreign companies should be decided exclusively at an all-Ukrainian referendum.
“The possibility of selling land to foreigners or foreign companies should be decided exclusively and solely at an all-Ukrainian referendum,” Shmyhal said on air of The Right to Power program on the 1+1 television channel on Thursday evening.
At the same time, the prime minister emphasized that Ukrainians should have the right and opportunity to dispose of their land. “As for the issue of the possibility of selling state land, this is a matter of discussion in parliament,” the prime minister said.
As many as 29% of Ukrainians support the passage of a bill on the land market by the Verkhovna Rada in the first reading, while 64% disapprove of this, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) found after conducting a public opinion poll.
The poll showed that 11.4% of respondents fully support the Rada’s passage on November 13 of legislation allowing the sale of land and another 17.3% are inclined to support it, while 15.4% are inclined to disapprove of this decision, 50% are completely opposed, and 5.9% were undecided or refused to answer.
If a referendum on the sale of agricultural land was held in Ukraine next Sunday, 22% of Ukrainians would support it, 59% would vote against, 14% would not cast their ballots, and 5% said they were still undecided.
The KIIS polled 1,500 respondents aged 18 and older using computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI) on November 22-25.
